Therapy Through Creative Arts

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Eko Sunyoto

The creative arts are not just a cultural product for appreciating. For Eko Sunyoto, 46, art is also therapeutic technique to help people with mental disorders relax. Through human engagement, art is able to restore their self-esteem.On Tuesday (10/16/2018) morning n a room at Prof. Dr. Soerojo Mental Hospital (RSJ) in Magelang, Central Java, Eko stood facing 12 patients being treated for mental disorders. After a moment, he invited them to dance. However, not all of them took up his invitation.

Two of the 12 patients complained about having a headache and immediately left the line. This did not upset Eko. He allowed the two patients to sit out the dance session.

Eko asked the remaining patients to dance. However, in the middle of the session, several other patients complained about dizziness and became reluctant to continue dancing. Again, Eko wasn’t upset. He asked these patients to rest and relax.

“I have to accept their conditions as they are, treat them as equals, [and] not separate. This is part of the effort to humanize them,” said Eko.

Eko works every day as an assistant nurse at the Psychosocial Rehabilitation Unit of RSJ Prof. Dr. Soerojo. Eko’s task in the state-owned mental hospital is to get his patients to engage in the creative arts, like dancing, playing the gamelan and singing Javanese songs. He is also responsible for getting male patients to engage in carpentry as a form of therapy.

These therapeutic activities are part of the psychosocial rehabilitation program at the mental hospital, which was built in 1916-1923 during the Dutch colonial era. Psychosocial rehabilitation and other treatments aim to restore the physiological, psychological, social and spiritual capabilities of people with mental disorders as a step in preparing their return to society.

Even though he works at the mental hospital, Eko has no training in medicine, psychiatric or psychology. “I am just an artist,” he said.

Eko is a renowned dancer and the founder of the Beksa Kinara-Kinari Community, a dance studio in Borobudur, Magelang. Eko teaches dance to children and teenagers at the studio. Some of his students have participated as a cheering team during the 2018 Borobudur Marathon.

In addition to teaching dance, Eko is also a choreographer who has created several pieces. One such piece is the “Kinara-Kinari”, based on the bas-reliefs at Magelang’s Candi Pawon, a Buddhist temple.

Adjusting

Eko began working at Prof. Dr. Soerojo Hospital in 2012, when the hospital had a vacancy in the art instructor position. There, Eko had to adapt to the mental patients’ individual conditions, so he never forced them to take part in the creative art sessions. “If I force them [to participate], I would end up with a headache,” he joked.

To better understand his patients, Eko studied wayang stories. Similar to these wayang stories that have many characters with diverse personalities, the patients at the mental hospital also have different personalities. “There are those who are aggressive, others have low self-esteem, and there are still others who want to lead, no matter their condition,” he said.

When leading the creative art sessions, he never looked down on the patients because of their condition. He saw them as equal to people without mental disorders. “They are just the same as us, all created by the God Almighty,” he said.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Eko Sunyoto

Eko treats his patients well. Occasionally, after a dance session, he buys snacks for them. At other times, Eko happily makes tea. “So they can communicate with me,” he said.

Eko sometimes invites the patients to perform in public. He believes that engaging in the creative arts, such as by dancing and playing the gamelan, helps motivate people with mental disorders.

By participating in such creative activities, the patients gradually come to feel that they are no different from anyone else. “In addition, it also helps to prepare them to return to society,” said Eko. He said that several patients at Prof. Dr. Soerojo’s RSJ showed improvement in their conditions after taking part in several creative art sessions.

Family of Artists

Eko was exposed to art at a young age, being born to a family of artists. Eko’s father managed a wayang orang (human puppet) performance group. He began learning dance, the gamelan and puppetry as a child.

“I started performing puppet shows in the third grade,” recalled Eko.

In addition to learning from his father, Eko also studied dance under several senior artists in Magelang. He continued to hone his dance skills while studying Dance Education at the Yogyakarta Teachers Training and Education Institute (now called Yogyakarta State University). He has performed in several other cities since he began his studies in Yogyakarta in 1991.

Eko recalled that he was frequently invited to dance at wedding ceremonies in Wonosari of Gunung Kidul regency in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY). “I used to perform 15 times a month in Wonosari. There was even a belief then that if I performed at a wedding, the bride would soon become pregnant,” he said with a laugh.

Because he became so busy with his dance engagements, Eko was unable to finish college. In 1999, Eko decided to return to his hometown of Warangan hamlet, on the slopes of Mount Merbabu in Magelang’s Pakis subdistrict. He then became involved in organizing the Five

Mountains Festival, which brought together the residents of five mountains in Central Java: Merapi, Merbabu, Sumbing, Andong and Menoreh.

Eko then decided to move out of his hometown, after returning to Magelang in 2007 from Semarang, where he was a member of an art community. He has since settled in Wanurejo village of Borobudur, where he founded the Beksa Kinara-Kinari Community.

Today, Eko teaches around 60 children from kindergarten to junior high school at the in the Beksa Kinara-Kinari Community. He also trains around 30 senior high school and university students. Aside from his activities as a professional dancer, choreographer and dance teacher, Eko dedicates himself to providing creative art therapy and “attends” to his patients at the mental hospital.

(Regina Rukmorini)